How do you "measure" staff/dept efficiency?

[GlennT]

Hi Guys!

My boss strolled into the office this afternoon and asked me how I "measured" my departments efficiency.

[by that, he means how do we analyse our current support levels and then make improvements upon them - then report/document the information].

Apparently, he had been having a discussion with his boss, discussing how they measured teachers efficiency and they wondered about us.

So.... I just wondered if anyone does this?

I understand that we all have SLA's but from a general support point of view, how do you "measure" your efficiency? By that I mean, is there a way to measure this and represent it in a data format?? i.e. in 2008, the IT department performed at 80%, in 2009 90%.

We have a helpdesk [which some staff refuse to use] but it is fairly basic and doesn't record response times or anything like that so I am not sure how to go about recording this data without literally getting my team to log specific details of all the jobs they do then collate the data.

Any suggestions would be great!

Cheers GlennT.

[smadison]

I use an excel sheet with time reported, responded to, correctted, etc.. this gives me a good matrix in case it is needed and staff know how to use excel. I also document if it is a staff training issue which helps identify staff that would benefit from additional training. PM me if you want a copy of the excel sheet.

[smadison]

Or you could contact Ozzy (ICTNUT) and ask him about my little helpdesk as it will do the reporting for you.

[GlennT]

Thanks smadison!

The problem I have is that the time taken to record these events is time that is not spent fixing problems or identifying potential problems.

We are a small team and the workload is heavy. How can I impliment this without affecting my teams performance?

Cheers,

GlennT

[smadison]

If you use the excel sheet and no one changes the formating or formulas a copy and paste of other team members is all it takes to combine the list. PM me if you want.

[PEO]

Im pussing to implement a help desk my little help desk. It should do what you are asking... if that helps

 

On-demand Help desk, Customer Support & Service SaaS from OP Software - My Little Helpdesk

[KarlGoddard]

Thanks smadison!

The problem I have is that the time taken to record these events is time that is not spent fixing problems or identifying potential problems.

We are a small team and the workload is heavy. How can I impliment this without affecting my teams performance?

Cheers,

GlennT

 

That's the (minor) trade off really. If you currently don't use a helpdesk app or have *any* form of call logging, whether thats anything from an access DB to a bit of paper, you will naturally think that you'll waste time having to log a call.

 

Having a good IT Helpdesk app will actually save you time in the long run - if it's searchable you've got an instant in house KB, you could report from it and see trends that may identify a more serious long term problem or identify an issue that could be avoided in future through staff training or better induction procedures etc.

 

If your school is currently or in the future going through any formal accreditation having a call logging system is essential and indicative of a pro level support facility.

 

It's easy for me to say you should 'make time' but honestly you really need to. It may sound like a big step but that step is very much worth it!

 

Cheers!

[maniac]

I use my little helpdesk, and can't praise it enough. We log absolutely everything through it, even jobs that are called in on the phone, times when people call in the office and ask for equipment for next weeks assembly, everything. That way I can build up a really good picture of how much we've accomplished in a termly, weekly, monthly or even daily basis if I need to.

 

Part of the battle is getting staff to use it, there will be the stubbon 'will nots' and of course there's always supply teachers who can't use it because they're not aware of it, and the problems where by members of staff can't actually access it as whatever problem they've got is affecting network connectivity, but for the most part staff can be persuaded to use it. If you prove it works by make sure you keep a close eye on it, and respond quickly to tickets that require it then they'll start to buy into it slowly when they see a positive response after they've submitted their ticket.

 

We now turn students away at the door who are sent down to us from people we know can use the helpdesk, and slowly they get the message and less and less of this happens, which allows us to manage our workload much more effectively and prioritise jobs properly.

 

A proper helpdesk is definitely the way forwards for this sort of thing.

[GlennT]

Thanks all!

Your answers all make total sense.

I will definately look onto this! Does "My Little Helpdesk" have a Sharepoint web part?

Cheers,

Glenn.

[PEO]

not sure but you have two choices of how you go about hosting it... the cheapest is hosting with them imo

[ICT_GUY]

I would use a complicated formula involving the ease of the problem being fixed. So that the really tough ones are always weighted accordingly with response time. I would also include every question asked and answered as a success.

 

Talk about a waste of time though, just pick a number that you can increase every year for the next 10 years.